Peruvian embroidery artisans from Ayacucho, Peru belong to the Wari culture, which flourished pre-Inca between 800 and 1100 AD. They are weavers and embroiderers of traditional textile art that has been passed down through the generations of women for almost 2,700 years. These hand-woven textiles, made on pedal looms mainly made of alpaca and sheep’s wool, display hand embroidery techniques such as “relleno”, otherwise known as fill point and high relief. Embroiderers work with decorative motifs inspired by nature, representing local flora plants, such as walnut (brown), molle (green), chilca (yellow), and mealybug (red).

My artisan partner Margarita, and her daughter Cynthia, tell us that Ayacucho has a long history of socio-political violence from Colonial times to the Guerrilla insurgency in the 1980’s, prompting Simon Bolivar to rename the city from Huamanga to Ayacucho, meaning “Corner of Death” in Quechua. During times of conflict, the women of Ayacucho became the main bread-winners of their families through selling their embroidery. Now in peacetime, they have introduced more vivid colors as a sign of the rebirth of a city that was once destroyed and today the famous embroidered flower motif represents joy and new flourishing times.

Peru has such a big variety of artistry and handcraft techniques that I wanted to look further for another art form to add to Andeana Hats apart from traditional loom weaving. This area of Peru is known for its hand embroidery craft, thus developing embroidered intention bands for Andeana Hats.